Page 257 - Entertainment Culture
Justin Bieber shares selfie from therapy session
Singer Justin Bieber has never shied-away from speaking about his mental health issues and even ensures to regularly update fans about his situation. In a recent social media post, the singer showed people how "cool" it is to prioritise mental health.The 25-year-old singer, on Wednesday, posted a selfie on Instagram story and wrote, "Therapy Session (written in bold). It's cool to have a healthy mind and healthy emotions."In March, the 'Sorry' singer, via an Instagram post, asked his fans to "pray" for him amid his battle with depression.Posting a picture, in which he can be seen hugging Scooter Braun and Kanye West, Bieber wrote, "Been struggling a lot. Just feeling super disconnected and weird.. I always bounce back so I'm not worried just wanted to reach out and ask for your guys to pray for me. God is faithful and your prayers really work thanks. The most human season I've ever been in facing my stuff head on."Later the same month, the singer announced that he is stepping away ...
Marilyn Monroe drama series in works
A drama series on the final months of screen icon Marilyn Monroe's life is in development at BBC Studios. Tentatively titled, "The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe", the show will explore her relationship with Hollywood studios and with public figures such as former US President John F Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy. The show will be based on parts of Keith Badman's book "The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe: The Shocking True Story", the studio said in a statement. Monroe, who died in 1962 at the age of 36 of a suspected suicide, is one of the most famous Hollywood icons ever. It will also explore the delays in reporting her overdose on the night of her death. BBC Studios, the network's production and commercial arm, has teamed up with Dan Sefton and Simon Lupton's UK indie producer Seven Seas Films to develop the show. The producers said the series would cover a period in which her behaviour became increasingly erratic as her dependence on alcohol and medication caused her glittering film ...
Kumail Nanjiani to star in 'Any Person, Living or Dead' film version
Actor-comic Kumail Nanjiani is set to feature in the big screen adaptation of Simon Rich's short story "Any Person, Living or Dead". According to Variety, the project will be directed by Jonathan Krisel from the script adapted by Rich. Legendary Entertainment has acquired the feature film rights to the story, which was recently published by Little, Brown and Company in Rich's collection of shorts, titled "Hits and Misses". The plot revolves around a brilliant reclusive scientist who, using his homemade time machine, gathers a roundtable of the greatest minds in history such as Shakespeare, George Washington and Aristotle, among others, to solve all of humanity's problems. Unfortunately, his plan fails to take into account the language barriers, ancient racism and the tendency of medieval men to commit murder. Instead of learning from these Great Men of History, our hero has no choice but to hunt them down and blast them to the past before they can ruin our future. Nanjiani, a ...
Amitabh calls himself disciple of Sivaji Ganesan
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who is all set to make his Tamil debut with "Uyarntha Manithan", has called himself a disciple of late southern superstar Sivaji Ganesan.
They are archetypal and hopeful: 'Endgame' co-director Joe Russo on why superhero mythology works
Superheroes represent hope in a world full of conflict and it is up to the filmmakers to weave real-world issues in the storylines, says "Avengers: Endgame" co-director Joe Russo. Just like mythology, he says, superheroes appeal to a cross-section of people. So one can be a fan of Captain America for his morality while another would be attracted to Deadpool's amorality. "They become important because they are archetypal, hopeful and accessible to global audience. There is a lot of darkness in the world and we try to infuse thematics that are valuable on a global level to these movies. You can find the code, ethics or values you can identify with. It is no different to any mythology, Greek or any gods you can think of," Russo told PTI in a group interview. He believes there are multiple layers to the story as both the sides are driven by a motive greater than them. "'Infinity War' has the message that sometimes villains win. It's a fairly relevant subject matter if you are an American
Melissa Leo, Rosie O'Donnell join Mark Ruffalo's HBO series
Oscar winner Melissa Leo and actor-comedian Rosie O'Donnell have boarded the cast of Mark Ruffalo's HBO limited series "I Know This Much Is True". The six-episode series is based on Wally Lamb's New York Times bestseller of the same name, reported Variety. It is described as a family saga that follows the parallel lives of identical twin brothers in an epic story of betrayal, sacrifice, and forgiveness, set against the backdrop of 20th century America. Derek Cianfrance, best known for films such as "Blue Valentine" and "The Place Beyond the Pines", is serving as writer and executive producer as well as director. Ruffalo, 51, stars as twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey. The actor is also executive producing the show. Leo, 58, is playing Ma, full name Concettina Ipolita Tempesta Birdsey, the mother of the twins, while 57-year-old O'Donnell will star as Lisa Sheffer, a social worker at the Hatch Forensic Institute. The cast also includes actors Archie Panjabi, Imogen Poots, ...
Rachel Weisz in talks for major role in 'Black Widow' movie
Oscar winner Rachel Weisz is in negotiations for a key role in Scarlett Johansson-fronted "Black Widow" film. According to Variety, the talks with the 49-year-old actor, who was recently nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Yorgos Lanthimos' "The Favourite", are in early stages. "Stranger Things" star David Harbour is also in talks to board the cast, which also includes "Outlaw King" actor Florence Pugh. The highly anticipated Marvel stand-alone movie will star Johansson as Romanoff aka Black Widow, an agent of the fictional spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D and a member of the superhero team, the Avengers. After "Captain Marvel", "Black Window" is the second female superhero-led project in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The shooting is scheduled to begin in London this June. Australian filmmaker Cate Shorthand of Nazi drama "Lore" fame is attached to direct. Jac Schaeffer wrote the most recent draft for the film. Marvel is yet to confirm the casting.
Britney Spears seeking mental health treatment amid father's illness
Pop icon Britney Spears has checked into a mental health facility. According to Billboard, the 37-year-old singer has entered into a 30-day programme to cope up with the stress related to her father Jamie Spears' health problems. The singer's father recently underwent a surgery to combat issues from his colon rupturing. On Wednesday, Spears took to Instagram to let her fans know that she is taking some "me time". "We all need to take time for a little 'me time'," the singer wrote in her post, next to a photo with the saying: "Fall in love with taking care of yourself, mind, body, spirit". In January, Spears had announced that she would be taking an indefinite work break to be with her father during his illness. She had also put on hold her "Britney: Domination" residency in Las Vegas.
'Shazam!': A fun-filled superhero film (IANS Review, Rating: ****)
Film: "Shazam!"; Director: David F. Sandberg; Cast: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou, Faith Herman, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Marta Milans, Cooper Andrews; Rating: ****
Google pulls news grant to Hungary propaganda outlet
Google on Wednesday confirmed that it dropped plans to give news grant money to a Hungarian website known as a propaganda platform for the authoritarian government in that country. Origo website parent New Wave Media Group was dropped from a list of those in line to receive grants from a Digital News Innovation Fund program in Europe "to help journalism thrive in the digital age." Independent journalists' organization MediaPowerMonitor last week published online a piece calling into question Google decision to issue a grant of up to 50,000 euros ($56,000) to New Wave Media, which it depicted as a "one of the staunchest supporters of the corrupt regime led by the far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban." "We recently made an initial offer of funding to a range of projects as part of the last round of our Digital News Innovation Fund," Google said in response to an AFP inquiry. "After further review, we've decided not to go ahead with the grant to NWM (New Wave Media)." Nieman Journalism .
Smile! The trailer of Joaquin Phoenix starrer 'Joker' is finally out
The wait is finally over as Joaquin Phoenix is here to bring back the horror of the famous Batman villain with the upcoming film 'Joker.'The psychological thriller will feature Joaquin as the classic bad boy of the DC universe. The much-awaited trailer of the film opens with Phoenix's Arthur aka joker in therapy.DC treated their fans with the trailer of the film on their Twitter handle."Put on a happy face. @JokerMovie - in theaters October 4. #JokerMovie, the tweet read.The chilling first trailer of the crime drama gives the audience the first look at Phoenix's character, a clown and comedian from Gotham who seems to have fallen on hard times."My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face. She told me I had a purpose, to bring laughter and joy to the world," Phoenix's character can be heard saying in voiceover as the video features him helping bathe his mother, played by actor Frances Conroy.In the following scene, Arthur can be seen getting attacked in the street, which
Play Skrillex to prevent mosquito bites, new study reveals
Hot and humid summer days are ahead and the weather is perfect for the good, old blood-sucking mosquitoes to unleash themselves and make lives even more miserable. But if you want to protect yourself from the pesky monsters, ditch the traditional repellents and turn up the dubstep music.A new study published in Acta Tropica found that playing dubstep music, particularly Scary Monsters, and Nice Sprites by Skrillex, reduced mosquito attacks, Cnet reports.The study examined the effects of electronic music on foraging, host attack and sexual activities of the dengue vector Aedes aegypti. It was found that the female Aedes aegypti bit less when Skrillex was playing.Researchers explain that sound is crucial for reproduction, survival, and population maintenance for many animals, including mosquitoes. The study can help in developing music-based personal protective measures against Aedes-borne diseases.The next time you head out late in the dark or hosting an outdoor party, you know exactly
Airtel forays in to e-books services segment
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel Wednesday announced the launch of its e-book services which will be offered to subscribers through mobile app Airtel Books. "E-books is a fast growing segment along with music and video. We are delighted to roll out this initiative and take it to the smartphone users across India through our deep distribution reach," Sameer Batra, CEO - Content & Apps, Bharti Airtel said in a statement. The service will be available to both Airtel and non-Airtel customers in iOS and Android, which will initially offer over 70,000 titles from Indian and international authors. The company is offering complimentary 30 day trial of the app after which customers interested in continuing with the service will need to pay Rs 129 for six months and Rs 199 for 12 months. During the trial period, Airtel is offering access to any five 'Paid' titles from the Readers Club, which has a collection of over 5000 e-books, to smartphone users on its network.
Hey Google, this is John Legend answering your queries
Call it the best tactic at making more people use the AI-powered digital assistant, Google Assistant is launching in its first-ever celebrity voice cameo today, in none other than the voice of John Legend.As The Verge reports, the legendary artist will answer your weather queries, play music, even sing "Happy Birthday" to you, albeit for a limited time.John Legend is one of the six new voices to lend their voice to Google's smart digital assistant which is at the core of multiple IoT gadgets. Using Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence, WaveNet works by sampling human speech and directly modeling audio waveforms from it to create realistic-sounding voices.To activate the Grammy-winning artist's voice, simply say, "Hey, Google, talk like a Legend", or manually head to the Settings to switch to his voice. The feature is currently available in English in the US.
SLP filed in SC to stay release of 'PM Narendra Modi'
Troubles for 'PM Narendra Modi' don't seem to end as a Special Leave Petition (SLP) has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court's recent order in the PIL seeking stay on the release of the film.The SLP challenges the Bombay HC order of April 1 which had disposed off the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed to stay the film's release. The SLP has sought a stay on the release of the movie owing to the upcoming elections.According to the petitioner lawyer Tausif Sheikh, the matter will be mentioned in the court tomorrow for an urgent hearing as the film is scheduled to release on April 5.The SLP demands an immediate stay on the release as an ad interim relief to the petitioners. The petition mentions that high court has not taken all the aspects of the petition into consideration before rejecting the plea.It also states that the film may influence the voters to vote in favour of a certain individual and that is a violation of the model code of conduct.On ...
Facebook will no longer ask for email passwords for account verification
Facebook asked its new users for email passwords in order to verify their accounts. The company has announced that it is ending the malpractice in light of users' privacy.According to the Daily Beast, the social networking giant said it will end its practice of password verification for accounts. This method asked users to verify their accounts by providing the password to the email address they used to sign up for Facebook.Facebook said that it will instead offer the traditional ways of verifying accounts such as a code sent to their phone or a link sent to their email.
I push myself to be out of my comfort zone: Dormer
"Game of Thrones" actress Natalie Dormer believes in challenging herself with whatever she does.
Polish priest apologizes for burning of 'Harry Potter' books
A priest in northern Poland who led a public burning of books that included titles from the "Harry Potter" series and other items parishioners wanted destroyed has apologized, saying the ritual was not intended to condemn specific authors, religions or social groups. The Rev. Rafal Jarosiewicz called the burning of objects thought to be connected to magic and the occult, and deemed by their owners to be an evil force, "unfortunate". He published the apology late Tuesday on the Facebook page of a foundation he founded. Jarosiewicz and other priests have drawn criticism for burning books, Buddhist figurines, an African mask, and other items Sunday outside a Catholic church in the city of Gdansk. They said they encouraged parishioners to bring in things that disturbed them so the priests could do away with bad influences. Jarosiewicz was fined by city guards. An anti-smog group also contacted prosecutors about the illegal burning of waste in an open fire. Images from the burning at the ..
Shah Rukh Khan encourages Varun for 'Kalank'
Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan says he received words of encouragement from superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who was to originally play the role that he now essays in the upcoming epic drama "Kalank".
MP HC rejects PIL seeking ban on PM Narendra Modi's biopic
The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court Wednesday rejected a plea seeking ban on the release of a biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A division bench of justices S C Sharma and Sunil Kumar Awasthi rejected the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Congress Seva Dal's state unit president Yogesh Yadav. The court said that since the Election Commission has taken cognisance of the matter, it would not interfere into it as of now, the petitioner's counsel Manish Yadav told reporters. The movie starring Vikek Oberoi is scheduled to release on April 5. In the PIL, Yadav alleged that the film "PM Narendra Modi" violated the model code of conduct. The petition also said the screening of this movie would give unfair advantage to the BJP in the general election.